CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Ender Inciarte woke from a long morning of sleep in Venezuela one day early December, he saw 18 missed calls from his older brother and panicked.

“I was in winter ball, and we had to travel the whole night,” Inciarte said. “So I was sleeping late, and he saw the news and started calling me.

“When I saw all the calls I was worried. I thought something had happened, but then he told me the news.”

The news was that the 22-year-old outfielder had been selected by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft on the morning of the final day of baseball’s Winter Meetings. It meant a new start and his first opportunity to show major-league coaches what he could do in camp.

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“I had no idea (he was in the Rule 5 pool),” Inciarte said. “I didn’t know anything about that. I was really surprised, and it was a good surprise.”

Considering the Phillies don’t have any true center fielders with big-league potential behind Ben Revere in the upper levels of the organization, it was worth take a shot with the speedy Venezuelan, even if he has yet to play above Class A in the minors.

After having a mundane 2011 season (.266 average, 26 SBs, 25 extra-base hits in 514 plate appearances) at South Bend in the Midwest League, Inciarte’s bat livened up last season. He hit .293 with 22 XBHs in 65 games at South Bend to open the season, then moved up to the high-A California League and batted .319 with 18 XBHs in 62 games there. He stole 46 bases in 58 attempts for the year.

The games in Clearwater have yet to start, but Charlie Manuel has spent an inordinate amount of time watching his outfielders as they shag flies and participate in drills. Much of that is to observe Darin Ruf as he attempts to field well enough to play everyday in left field, but Manuel also has taken a liking to Inciarte’s knack for chasing down balls.

“I saw another kid go out to get a ball — what’s his name, Inciarte?” Manuel said over the weekend. “He’s fast. He ran a ball down right of center field and it was high. He went over and caught it.”

Historically, the Phillies give long, thorough looks at Rule 5 guys in Grapefruit League games — Shane Victorino, Michael Martinez and David Herndon all came to the Phillies via that route. So Inciarte should see plenty of playing time and at-bats.

If Delmon Young needs a few weeks at the start of the season before he’s ready to play in big-league games, there’s a chance Inciarte could get some time to prove his worth in the regular season. What he really ought to root for is a lot of early production out of Ruf and Domonic Brown. If they bring some peace of mind to the starting corner outfield positions, then perhaps the Phillies could afford the luxury of a fifth outfielder with speed and defensive skills.

Manuel says he will evaluate Inciarte for both his 25-man roster worthiness and whether he would be beneficial to keep in the system if a deal can be worked out with his former organization, the Diamondbacks.

“We will definitely discuss stuff like that,” he said. “We’ll put him out there and let him play. He’ll get to play some and we’ll see what we’ve got.

The Phillies offered Victorino back to the Dodgers when he didn’t make their 25-man roster out of spring training, but L.A. infamously didn’t pay the $25,000 to regain the rights to him. According to pro scouting director Mike Ondo, most teams have learned their lesson from a mistake of that magnitude.

“A high percentage of guys who don’t make the club are taken back by their original club,” Ondo said. “From the tools the (scouts) saw, we think he’s an above-average defender in center and maybe can move to the corners and play there as well.

“The tools are what stood out — the way he plays the outfield, his speed. And then he was down in Venezuela and see him down there.”

Although Inciarte knows it’s roster-or-bust for him this spring, he’s trying to keep his mind on the game.

“I don’t think about the Rule 5 thing. I’m just here to do the best I can and prove that I can play baseball,” he said. “They are going to make the decision and figure out what they want me to stay or not, but it all depends on me and how I do this spring.”

As for his brother, Astolfo, he will continue to keep an eye on his younger sibling’s progress. Astolfo also played in the Arizona system, but left baseball and took over the family’s hardware storea couple of years ago, after his father died.

“He wants to come (to America) this summer to see me play,” Ender said of Astolfo.

If a few things go right, that trip could be to a major-league ballpark — an opportunity Ender Inciarte had no idea was possible until it occurred.